1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems, and more particularly, to license activation for software that is preloaded onto information handling systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
It is known to manufacture information handling systems based on a build to order process that allows a customer to specify specific hardware and software options. It is also known to preload additional software (both operating systems and application programs) onto an information handling system when manufacturing the information handling system. With build to order information handling systems this additional software can be tailored to a particular customer based upon the specific hardware and software options selected by the customer when configuring the information handling system. It is also known to provide the software on some form of removable media (such as e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD) when providing the information handling system to the customer.
One example of an application that is preloaded onto an information handling system is a software DVD application. When an information handling system is fabricated with a DVD drive, the software DVD application allows an end user to play and view DVD content such as movies on the information handling system.
An issue relating to the preloading of software onto an information handling system relates to the licenses for the software and specifically to payment of the royalties to the providers of the software for the software licenses. Known methods of royalty payment often require that the royalties for the software license be paid for every information handling system that is provided to a customer with the particular software.
It is desirable to provide an automated process for determining when software that is preloaded onto an information handling system is actually executed by a user and to provide a process in which royalties are only paid for software that is actually executed by a user of the information handling system.